Shannon Breland News

Fleet Survey Team (FST) took delivery of two 9-m SAFE Boat Defender-class survey boats on March 4. This delivery triples FST's organic boat inventory of C 130-deployable platforms. "These boats usher in a new and exciting era of FST surveying that will undoubtedly provide critical hydrographic information to the fleet for many years to come," said FST Commanding Officer Cmdr. Brian Connon. Prior to the delivery of the two Defender-class boats, FST primarily relied on its current lone FST 7-m rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) or boats of opportunity for conducting hydrographic surveys using single-beam sonar from Africa to . The Defender-class boats offer many advantages over previous survey boats and vessels of opportunity used in overseas surveys.